Birmingham City favourite Craig Gardner reckons his first strike since returning to the club had a sense of ‘deja vu’ about it.

Gardner lashed the ball home from around 25 yards to level matters against Leeds United on Friday night to send The Tilton Road End wild.

But Leeds immediately hit back and sealed a 3-1 win at St Andrew’s as former Blues loanee Chris Wood grabbed his second of the night before substitute Alfonso Pedraza notched a late clincher for Garry Monk’s men.

Paul Robinson and Craig Gardner of Birmingham City celebrate

Despite the defeat, Gardner couldn’t resist having a little word in the ear of Leeds goalkeeper Rob Green at full-time.

Green was between the sticks for West Ham when they met Blues in Small Heath during the Carling Cup winning campaign of 2011.

That semi-final was clinched by a powerful Gardner strike that Green couldn’t keep out in extra-time, something Gardner was only too glad to remind his counterpart of.